SM
No. The world does need a collective security structure. But the current one leaves a lot to be desired. And aside from arming Ukrainians, the United States isn’t using military force in the face of the most glaring act of aggression in recent memory anyway. Meanwhile, the lack of restraint that has been designed into our arrangements means that — much like Russia — the United States can get away with a lot of regressive and unholy acts simply due to its military and geopolitical dominance.
The litany is long, and goes beyond its own wars of choice. And yet the default remains that, in mainstream discourse, action by the United States that routinely makes the world worse is “normal,” while inaction is abnormal and, for many, unforgivable. Not just the Afghan and Iraq interventions in particular, but the far-flung “war on terror” in general, demonstrably exacerbated the evils they set out to counter or thwart. I grew up on condemnations of “standing idly by,” and with every crisis in which presidents draw limits — Syria under Barack Obama or Ukraine under Biden — there is baying for stronger interventions, allusion to Holocaust-era passivity, and suggestions that American credibility in a dangerous world will lapse if more bombs are not dropped. Alongside this default militarism, finally, the country also supervises a global arms trade and arms and funds proxy wars.
None of these critiques is new. The main question is whether they justify a creative search for an alternative to the armed supremacy — with its huge costs for America too — that the country has enjoyed since the 1940s. In any consideration of that question, for the moment, it is not all or nothing, partly because US militarization of the world is so costly and vast, not to mention increasing daily.
Reducing American interventionism is an experiment to try even while creative attempts to envision alternative security arrangements proceed. And in any event, a multipolar world is coming no matter what American policies are chosen. We might as well take advantage of foresight in seeking an alternative to unipolarity on terms that are better rather than worse for the world.
Read More: The United States Is Not the World’s “Indispensable Nation”